by Nathaniel R
TÁR
The New York Film Critics Circle was founded way back in 1935 and they hold a lofty place in film history given their publishing-giant of a city and their own rich history of interesting choices. For their 88th awards TÁR and The Banshees of Inisherin emerged victorious with two wins each, though a few of the other wins were quite surprising...
BEST FILM: TÁR
This heady drama about a famed conductor unravelling takes the top prize. Recent winners of this prize have included Drive My Car, First Cow, The Irishman, Roma, and Lady Bird. Though NYFCC is not attempting to predict the Oscars as some groups do this choice does bode well for TÁR's Oscar prospects; the NYFCC top pick usually makes the Oscar lineup although it's worth noting, at least in a coincidentally funny way, that in the case of Carol (2015) another glorious heady Cate Blanchett vehicle directed by a guy named Todd, it did not.
TÁR's writer/director Todd Field previously won the NYFCC "First Film" category for In the Bedroom (2001). He's now the only filmmaker to have won both categories.
BEST DIRECTOR: S. S. Rajamouli, RRR
TAR
He's the first Indian filmmaker to win this prize though NYFCC tends to be a friendly organization when it comes to embracing non-English language films.
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, TÁR
This is Cate Blanchett's second lead win at NYFCC. She previously won for Blue Jasmine (2013). Several other actresses have also won twice. The only actresses to win three or more are Julie Christie, Sissy Spacek, Joanne Woodward, Liv Ullman, Ingrid Bergman, and Meryl Streep
BEST ACTOR: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin and After Yang
Their taste in leading men usually aligns with Oscars (in terms of nominations but not wins) though there have been exceptions. The last man cited for two films at once was Brad Pitt for Moneyball / Tree of Life in 2011.
BEST "SUPPORTING" ACTRESS: Keke Palmer, Nope
NYFCC is known for surprising with "fun" performances winning (think Cameron Diaz for There's Something ABout Mary or Tiffany Haddish for Girls Trip). We love Keke Palmer and love her in Nope but this is in no way a "supporting" role and we wish they wouldn't encourage Category Fraud (Yes, Universal is pushing her as a "supporting" actress this year).
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
He's the first Asian to win in this category. (Best Actress is the only acting category that's never had an Asian winner now.)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
Miranda was up for the Oscar for Benjamin Button and won that prize for Life of Pi four years later but this is his first NYFCC honor.
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: EO (Poland)
Can it make the Oscar list? The international category is, as ever, highly competitive.
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
The NYFCC has much much broader taste in animation than Oscar does (with only a couple of exceptions Oscar wants their animated films to be CG adventure-comedies) so you shouldn't interpret this as meaningful in that Oscar race.
BEST FIRST FILM: Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
This is the fourth consecutive year that this prize has gone to a female filmmaker, a trend that began with Mati Diop (Atlantics, 2019) though women directors have been winning this prize intermittently for a long time.
SPECIAL AWARDS
In addition to cash prizes to two students studying film/journalism: Nico Pedrero-Setzer and Greg Nussen, they also honored the following men and organizations for 2022
Jake Perlin, curator, distributor, publisher, in recognition of his indispensable contributions to film culture.
Jafar Panahi, for his dogged bravery as an artist, and for the humanity and beauty of a body of work created under the most oppressive circumstances.
dGenerate Films, For their invaluable work bringing independent films from China to a wider audience